True Holiness Temple Church and Candle Shop in Kansas City, Missouri; this storefront church and its associated hoodoo-style candle shop is non-denominational in orientation

Wimbledon Spiritualist Church in Wimbledon, London, England, was founded in 1913 by means of directions that its founder received via a Ouija board

Church of the Spirit in Chicago, Illinois, USA; founded in 1897 as Bund Der Varheit No. 18 (Band of Truth No. 18), it assumed its present name in 1915 and is Chicago's oldest Spiritualist church.

Horley Spiritualist Association Church in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, founded in 1946; the present building was dedicated in 1972 by the founder, working under the direction of a spirit guide known as The Teacher

A private altar to Jesus and Siva in the home of an Eclectic Spiritualist minister

A bóveda or Spiritualist altar typical of those seen among practitioners of Espiritismo Kardecista, Espiritismo Cruzado, and Santerismo

Spiritualist churches, organizations, and associations do not adhere to a single creed; in fact, some groups specifically renounce the concept of having a creed and prefer that each member understand the truth of spirit contact through personal experience. Even when it comes to the theological question of the after-life, there is no uniformity of belief among Spiritualist churches. Some Spiritualist organizations endorse the concept of the Summer-Land or the Other Side as a place where spirits reside after physical death, while other organizations endorse the idea of ongoing spiritual reincarnation in physical bodies on Earth.

Members of one Spiritualist body are not bound to accept the cosmology, theology, or specific beliefs taught within another body that differs widely from their own, hence these organizations are considered as separate denominations in the over-arching religion of Spiritualism or, in the case of Christian Spiritualism, to be separate denominations comprising a Spiritualist branch of Christianity. However, within the broad scope of religious Spiritualism, there are certain definable sub-groupings or lineages, and many of these groups are aligned into formal associations or denominations.

Modern Spiritualism

The movement known as Modern Spiritualism originated in 1848 when the Fox sisters, living in rural New York state, came into communication with the spirit of a deceased man named Charles Rosna. This phenomenon evolved into the study of spiritual contact and eventually to the movement's development as a religious tradition. Modern Spiritualism is a movement that, like Protestantism before it, can trace its origins to a specific moment in time, and that has subsequently given rise to many independent religious lineages.

The early pioneers of Spiritualism were closely associated with the movements for the abolition of slavery, for female suffrage, and for Native American political rights, and these liberal and justice-driven concerns remain a proud heritage in most Modern Spiritualist churches.

"Pure" Spiritualism traces its development in a direct lineage from the Fox Sisters of Hydesville, New York, whose spirit contacts ushered in what is known as the era of "Modern Spiritualism." Some churches within this group have attempted to appropriate the term "Modern Spiritualism" as an exclusive self-definition, but that term actually is far broader in scope and refers to all of the world-wide Spiritualist traditions that arose after the mid-19th century.

Bodies within this group generally offer development classes in mediumship Healing services for the benefit of parishioners are also held regularly, as are evidentiary demonstrations in which spirit mediums deliver messages from the spirits of the dead. Most of these churches emphatically reject the concept of reincarnation and refer to the afterlife as "Summer-Land." Many of them use the sunflower as their official emblem.

Judeo-Christian Spiritualism and the Spiritual Church Movement

Judeo-Christian Spiritualist churches also trace their lineage from the Fox Sisters, but they identify as Christian or, more broadly, as Judeo-Christian, and generally hold the belief that Spiritualism is not only compatible with, but also intimately intermingled with historical Jewish and Christian experiences and with Judeo-Christian faith. Churches within this group tend to use the term "Spiritual" rather than "Spiritualist" when naming their organizations, and the church names themselves are often reminiscent of those found in other Christian denominations, such as Calvary Spiritual Church, Saint Martin's Spiritual Church, or Mount Zion Spiritual Church. Likewise, their buildings may contain typical Judeo-Christian devotional imagery such as crosses, lambs, lions, and crowns.

Within these denominations, there are several forms of Judeo-Christian liturgical style, including elements of Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as a mixture of both. Some hold services in honour of specific non-Christian spirits and spirit guides, such as Black Hawk, who was, in life, a Native American warrior of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some also include formal recognition of other faiths as well, thus verging upon the multi-culturalism of the Eclectic Spiritual Churches.

In the United States, many Judeo-Christian Spiritualist churches, especially those that are historically African American, are referred to collectively as part of the Spiritual Church Movement. Most of these churches trace their lineage to mainstream 19th century American Spiritualism, as practiced by celebrated African-American mediums and conjure doctors such as Paschal Beverly Randolph, Aunt Caroline Dye, Leafy Anderson, and Mother Catherine Seals. However, in 1922, under a program of racial segregation instituted by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, they were expelled en masse from the NSAC. The Black Spiritualists then formed the Colored Spiritualist Association of Churches (CSAC). According to the writers St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, by 1938 there were 51 black Spiritualist churches in Chicago alone, the largest of which had a membership of more than two thousand congregants. However, over the years the CSAC schismed and became defunct, leaving in its place a loose confederation of denominations collectively referred to as the Spiritual Church Movement.

Eclectic Spiritualism

Eclectic Spiritualist churches derive from the 19th century Spiritualism of the Fox Sisters, and they encourage the practice of mediumship. Theologically, they may display beliefs similar to any or all of the churches outlined above, but what sets them apart is that within these eclectic churches, there are usually formal liturgical and iconographic elements derived from a broad variety of world-wide religious and cultural traditions, including New Thought, Theosophical, Hermetic, New Age, Catholic Christian, Protestant Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and/or Neo-Paganreligions. Most of them embrace self-descriptive terms such as "non-denominational" or "inter-faith." In addition, some, but not all, may refer to the deities of various pantheons as spirit teachers or spirit guides.

Espiritismo or Mexican Spiritualism

Espiritismo, or Mexican Spiritualism was founded in 1866 by Roque Rojas Esparaza, a man of mixed race whose mother was an Otomi Native American from Hidalgo Province, and whose father was of mixed Spanish Sephardic Jewish and Spanish Catholic Christian descent. As Father Elias, he proclaimed himself "the Strong Rock of Israel" and founded the spiritualist Mexican Patriarchal Church of Elijah (IMPE) denomination. Rojas condemned the doctrine of reincarnation and denounced Espiritismo Kardecista or Kardecist Spiritism for promoting it. After his death, IMPE divided, with Father Elias' widow leading the Israelite Regenerated Church and other women forming the Marianist Trinitarian Spiritualists.

The meeting places of Mexican Spiritualists are referred to as Spiritualist temples. Ornamentation within the temples is confined to a seven-stepped pyramid, the image of an eye in a triangle, and fresh flowers. Espiritistas follow a unique order of liturgical services in which "irradiations" (messages from Spirit) are delivered to the congregation 13 times per month, namely, every Sunday and every Thursday, plus the 1st, 7th, 11th, 13th, and 21st days of the month. Development classes in mediumship and healing are conducted regularly. In addition, healing services are held two days each week, at which folk-magical and folk-medicinal herbal preparations are prescribed to parishioners by white-robed temple leaders, many of whom are female. Members mostly belong to Native American tribes in northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States.

Espiritismo Kardecista or Kardecist Spiritism

The common basis of understanding among the Kardecist denominations is that they are founded upon the five books about Spiritualism and mediumship written by the 19th century French author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who published his works under the pseudonym Allan Kardec.

Rivail had been a teacher of mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and other sciences, whose other interests included animal magnetism, somnambulism, trance possession, phrenology, and clairvoyance. The American phenomenon of Spiritualist table rapping attracted him and he established contact with helpful spirits who dictated manuscripts to him for publication. The major Kardecian Spiritist doctrinal difference from the above Spiritualist groups is a solid belief in reincarnation of the soul.

Kardecist Spiritism took hold in France and spread throughout Europe; at the present time, Kardecist denominations of Spiritualism are found widely throughout the Caribbean and in areas of the United States where Caribbean immigrants have settled. A form of Espiritismo Kardecista that has been influenced by Cuban Santeria is popularly known as Santerismo. Members of Kardecist organizations or "Spiritist Societies" do not always refer to their meeting places as "churches" or "temples," preferring to identify them as "Spiritist Centers."

Espiritismo Cruzado centers its worship around the "bóveda" or Spiritualist altar typically composed of a table covered in white cloth, upon which are placed 7 or 9 glasses of water (to cool and refresh the spirits), lit candles and a crucifix. It is also common for practitioners of Espiritismo Cruzado to add statues of Catholic saints, spirit dolls; bouquets of flowers, offerings of cigars and coffee, and statues representing Indian or Congolese spirit guides at their altars. Practitioners of Espiritismo Cruzado gather for regular meetings called "misas espirituales" (spiritual masses) to commune with the spirits, recite Catholicprayers, practice their mediumship skills, experience possession by their spirits and to be spiritually cleansed with perfumes, plants, and flowers.

The Santeria Church of the Orishas, an affiliate of Missionary Independent Spiritual Church, is an example of a church that works within the tradition of Espiritismo Cruzado. The majority of practitioners who work within Espiritismo Cruzado worship in independent groups or in spiritual lineages associated with Santeria (La Regla Lukumí).

Santerismo

Santerismo is a variation of Espiritismo Cruzado that developed in Puerto Rico and among Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants in New York City after World War Two and has since spread into other Afro-Caribbean communities in America. Other Puerto Rican and Dominican names for Santerismo are Sanse, Zancie, Zance, Sanses, Puerto Rican Vudu, Umbanda Boriqua, and Puerto Rican Espiritismo.

Followers of Santerismo typically gather in private homes or meeting halls for worship. Santerismo's worship centers around the "bóveda" or Spiritualist altar, which much like that of Espiritismo Cruzado. The altar typically consists of a table covered with white cloth, upon which have been placed 7 or 9 glasses of water (to cool and refresh the spirits), lit candles, a crucifix, rosaries, and images and statues of Catholic saints, spirit guides such as La Madama, or Yoruba orishas along with their traditional offerings of fruits and flowers.

Religion

AIRR Readers & Rootworkers Who Perform This Work for Clients

The Association of Independent Readers & Rootworkers (AIRR) is here to help you find gifted, sincere, and honest spiritual guidance, successful counseling, and professional magical spell casting and ritual conjuration. Every independent member of AIRR has been certified for psychic ability, magical skill, and ethical reliability. Every AIRR psychic, reader, seer, diviner, scryer, root doctor, and spiritual practitioner has completed a year-long program of training in conjure, hoodoo, witchcraft, rootwork, making mojo hands, and casting powerful magick spells. All of our psychics have served the public professionally for a minimum of two years -- and in many cases, significantly longer. Certified AIRR Readers & Rootworkers who will perform this type of work to help you find love, money, protection, and luck are listed below.